Description

The Gambia faces rising fiscal risks from recurrent droughts, floods, and storms, which increasingly strain its limited fiscal space and heavily exposed sectors such as agriculture and tourism. While recent efforts to improve data systems and disaster risk financing have strengthened preparedness, fragmented risk assessments, inconsistent loss data, and weak PFM practices continue to undermine effective planning. Disaster related liabilities could reach up to 2.3 percent of GDP for a 50-year event, and events like the 2022 floods have already caused economic losses. Existing contingency instruments offer only partial protection, leaving frequent shocks to trigger costly ad hoc responses. Strengthening fiscal resilience will require better disaster loss data, improved macro fiscal analysis, more disciplined budgeting, and strategic use of risk layering approaches to integrate disaster risk into fiscal planning.

More publications in this series: High-Level Summary Technical Assistance Reports